Socceroos qualify for the 1974 finals
By Martin Gibbes
foxsports.com.au
May 22, 2010
We continue our 30-day countdown to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa with the Socceroos, who in 1974 scored 21 goals in qualifying for the finals in West Germany.
“"It was one of the freakiest goals ... there was a free kick, the ball was knocked back and he ran onto the ball. It was a real thunderbolt."” – Doug Utjesnovic The Socceroos defender describes Jimmy Mackay's goal that sent Australia to their first FIFA World Cup finals.
Australia started their journey to the 1974 FIFA World Cup finals fairly inauspiciously in front of a sparse crowd in Auckland on a chilly March day in 1973, when a late equaliser from substitute Ernie Campbell spared their blushes.
A little less than eight months later, the journey ended in glory with their play-off success against South Korea in front of 28,000 people in neutral Hong Kong.
Australia’s qualification path to their first World Cup finals appearance in 1974 took them from Auckland to Tehran to Seoul and, finally, to Hong Kong. The original Socceroos emerged as the sole representatives in West Germany from the Asia and Oceania regions only after playing 11 games, including four in a week at one stage, and scoring 21 goals.
The late Jimmy Mackay, who had scored so many important goals earlier in qualifying, sealed the deal when he struck with 20 minutes left to play in Hong Kong with a sweet free kick to give Australia a 1-0 win.
Defender Doug Utjesnovic later said of the goal: “It was one of the freakiest goals. You could try a million times to score the exact goal (and never do it). There was a free kick, the ball was knocked back and he ran onto the ball. It was a real thunderbolt."
The Socceroos couldn’t follow up their earlier goal-scoring exploits in the finals itself. Australia failed to score in Germany, although defender Col Curran put through his own net against East Germany. It would be another 32 years before Australia opened their account in the finals.
Australia's qualifying campaign was split into two stages: the first was a round-robin against three teams from the Oceania region, followed by a series of play-off games against the cream of Asian football.
The campaign almost got off on the wrong foot, however, when the unheralded Kiwis nearly snatched an opening win.
Next up was a run of four games at home in seven days against Iraq (twice), Indonesia and New Zealand.
A parochial crowd of 28,000 people saw goals from Ray Richards and a double from Adrian Alston give Australia a 3-1 win over Iraq at the old Sydney Sports Ground. The team backed up two days later for a 2-1 win over Indonesia in Sydney, with Campbell and Alston on the mark again.
The return game against New Zealand ended in a 3-3 draw. The Socceroos led 3-1 with goals from Utjesnovic, Ray Baartz and Branko Buljevic before the Kiwis rallied in the second half.
They could have settled their progression through to the next stage in Melbourne two days later, but had to settle for 0-0 draw with Iraq.
But they didn’t have to wait long as a 6-0 hammering of Indonesia, with goals from Mackay (two) Atti Abonyi (two), Ray Richards and Baartz, meant they edged Iraq for a place in the next stage.
Their first assignment in Asia was to host Iran in Sydney, where they came away with a 3-0 victory thanks to goals from Alston, Abonyi and Peter Wilson. In the return leg in Tehran, in front of 80,000 fans, Australia went down 2-0 early but defended resolutely to get the win on aggregate.
Two (or three as it turned out) games against South Korea would decide who went through to the finals.
The first in Sydney ended in a 0-0 draw before Australia fought out an impressive 2-2 draw in Seoul. Buljevic and Baartz were on target as Socceroos battled back from 2-0 down to force the deciding tie. The rest is history.
There was no single goal-scoring hero. Alston was the top scorer with four while Baartz, Abonyi and Mackay hit three each. Buljevic, Richards and Campbell grabbed two while Utjesnovic and Wilson were also on the scoresheet.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,26932594-5019477,00.html